Offense, Defense on Display at Spring Game

AMES, Iowa – Both sides of the ball had its moments as Iowa State wrapped up its spring practice slate with the 2012 Cyclone Gridiron Club-Iowa State Spring Game at Jack Trice Stadium. Despite the overcast conditions, a good-sized crowd came out Saturday afternoon to get the first sighting of the Iowa State football team in 2012.

Three quarterbacks saw the majority of the snaps. Jared Barnett went 11-of21 passing for 67 yards while rushing 11 times for 55 yards. Steele Jantz competed 16-of-28 passes for 194 yards while redshirt freshman Sam Richardson finished 14-of-24 for 137 yards and a touchdown.

Linebacker A.J. Klein, on behalf of the gold team, made the play of the game late in the second quarter as he picked off a Barnett pass and returned it 94-yards, crisscrossing the field for a touchdown. It was almost not to be though as running back James White caught up with the All-Big 12 defender inside the five-yardline, but Klein got the ball across the line for the score.

Klein’s return was part of a five-play stretch in which three interceptions were grabbed by the defense. The Gold team got another interception through Jeremiah George, who returned it 16 yards. The next play, Barnett and the Gold team were picked off by Jacques Washington to shift possession again.

The first offensive touchdown of the game came late in the first half as Richardson led a 15-play, 89-yard drive that took up just 2:19 of clock capped off by a Tad Ecby six-yard touchdown reception.

After a scoreless first quarter, the Cardinal team got on the board first. Barnett led the offense on a 15-play 56 yard drive that consumed 4:59 of game clock. The drive was capped off by an Edwin Arceo 24-yard field goal.

After a Gold three-and-out, Steele Jantz made the first big play of the game for Cardinal with a 56-yard bomb to Josh Lenz to move inside the Gold 10-yardline. However, the drive could not get into the end zone, leading to a 21-yard field goal by Arceo, his second of the game.

Lenz led Iowa State’s receivers with seven catches for 98 yards on the day. Ja’Quarius Daniels caught six passes for 46 yards and Jerome Tiller and Chris Young each posted five catches.

On the defensive side of the ball, Nick Kron and Cory Morrissey each recorded two sacks. Junior Cliff Stokes led the Cyclone defense with eight tackles on the afternoon.

The Cyclones will commence the 2012 regular season Saturday Sept. 1 against Tulsa at Jack Trice Stadium.